Social Security benefits to expand, make retirees 'whole,' KEA president says

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Retired police officers, firefighters and teachers could see an estimated $300 to $350 boost to their Social Security benefits beginning next month, according to Kentucky Education Association.

KEA, the state's teachers union, said the reversal of two provisions to Social Security benefits will make retired public servants "whole."

"Our educators and public servants, they make our our Commonwealth, move forward every single day, they give to their communities," said Eddie Campbell, president of KEA. "They spend their life, their career, serving the communities in which they live, and oftentimes they have to take other jobs on just to make sure that they're providing for their families."

The Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset limited Social Security benefits for recipients if they got retirement payments from other sources, including public retirement programs from a state or local government.

Those provisions were rescinded in the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act, which was signed into law last year.

"They were being punished for being those public servants," Campbell said. "Taking this away makes them whole, so that they will be able to retire with dignity and with the retirement security that they deserve."

The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released last May said the program’s trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035. The new law will hasten the program’s insolvency date by about half a year.

"Social Security’s aggressive schedule to start issuing retroactive payments in February and increase monthly benefit payments beginning in April supports President Trump’s priority to implement the Social Security Fairness Act as quickly as possible," said Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security in a statement. "The American people deserve to get their due benefits as quickly as possible."

Most people will receive their one-time retroactive payment by the end of March, and new monthly payments will begin in April, which will be deposited into their bank account on record with Social Security, according to a statement from the Social Security Administration.

The Congressional Research Service estimated that in December 2023, there were 745,679 people, about 1% of all Social Security beneficiaries, who had their benefits reduced by the Government Pension Offset. About 2.1 million people, or about 3% of all beneficiaries, were affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision.

SSA asks beneficiaries to wait until April to inquire about the status of their retroactive payment, since some payments will process incrementally into March.

The future of Social Security has become a top political issue and was a major point of contention in the 2024 election. About 72.5 million people, including retirees, disabled people and children, receive Social Security benefits.

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